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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26210071">Star-Crossed</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoboticSpaceCase/pseuds/RoboticSpaceCase'>RoboticSpaceCase</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Gravity Falls</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>AU swapping, Alternate Realities, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, But he turns into Human Bill Cipher later lol, Dimension Travel, Enemies to Lovers, F/F, M/M, Not between Dipper and Bill tho, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, Some violence and stuff happens later, They travel through different realities basically so there will be different AUs they go through, Triangle Bill Cipher</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 08:34:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,287</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26210071</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/RoboticSpaceCase/pseuds/RoboticSpaceCase</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Years after Weirdmageddon when the mystery twins are back home in California, Dipper is still enthralled with the paranormal while Mabel cares more about her theater hobby. After Ford expresses concerns about Stan having nightmares about Bill, Dipper jumps at the chance to summon another demon for answers, only to accidentally open a can of worms that sends him and Bill into somewhere completely unfamiliar with no way to get home. Not without working together, that is.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bill Cipher/Dipper Pines, Pacifica Northwest/Mabel Pines</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>83</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Problems</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I was meant to finish other projects before starting this one but I couldn't write anything other than this lol</p><p>I know Billdip is kinda dead these days but I still love this pairing and I will go down with this ship ;w;</p><p>That being said, if you're still around reading this stuff and want it to keep going (whether it be my fic or someone else's) comments are a huge motivation to keep us going! I know it's not always easy to leave one and sometimes there's not much to say, and that's fine! But when you can, encourage other Billdip writers because we need it :p</p><p>Anyway, I haven't been in the groove of writing for a little while so pls enjoy the mess that is me trying to remember how to write ;w; &lt;3</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>A flickering candle sat at the other end of the room, the flame lapping at the tiled wall every time Dipper took a deep enough breath. The old locker rooms that were closed off to be remodeled soon weren’t very big, but he didn’t need too much space. Just enough for a large summoning circle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He stood with his journal in his hand, eyes darting over the hurriedly scribbled notes and doodles that covered every page from top to bottom. There had been so many hours put into it, so many sleepless nights, blood, sweat and tears. Every page had as much crammed onto it as possible. Soon he would be getting a new one to do the same to, though that would have to wait until this one served its purpose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, I have the candle, I made the diagram…” Dipper gripped the sides of the book. Summoning a demon could cause so many problems, especially in an old part of the building that was falling apart. He couldn’t do it at home or in a nicer part of the school, though, so this place had to do. However, he had done a </span>
  <em>
    <span>lot</span>
  </em>
  <span> of prepping for this, set up so many safety measures and fail-safes. It would be fine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Another deep breath filled the dark room, the glow of the candle threatening to go out from the force of it. The particular demon he had found a summoning circle for shouldn’t be very strong and wouldn’t require much to bring into his world. All he had to do was lean down and finish the circle at his feet. Just two more seconds of his time and then he would have the rest of his lunch period to talk to the demon and get the information he wanted.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright Dipper, you can do this.” His voice shook despite the six years of experience he’s had with paranormal stuff. Most of it came from his summers spent in Gravity Falls with his uncles but there had been quite a few instances in his hometown where he ran into weird things. Like the time he accidentally invited a ghost into the lunchroom.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It haunted everyone for a month by tripping them, throwing things, turning their food sour, or making unsavory noises whenever someone sat down. He was the one to get rid of it but no one ever let him live it down. Especially Mabel.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dipper knelt down and held the marker out to finish the circle. This time he had a good enough reason to risk bringing something into the school. Mabel would forgive him eventually because if he got answers from this demon they wouldn’t have to worry so much about Stan who was suffering from visions of Bill and odd nightmares. When the idea of just zapping Bill from his mind again came up, Ford told them solemnly that Stan’s advanced age would make altering memories dangerous.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They weren’t even fully sure if him seeing Bill was a bad thing, or if the demon had somehow survived the first mind wipe, but Dipper wanted to be sure so that they could all know what to do moving forward. After all, knowing is half the battle and he was prepared to learn as much as he could to fight that battle for his great uncle.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The marker squeaked against the tiled floor then a sudden and heavy silence followed after it. A chilly cloud filled the small space as if he had turned on some fog machine in the corner that someone poured ice in. It seemed perfectly harmless to start, floating above the marked-up floor like it was setting the stage for the creature he was trying to bring forth.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But then it started to rise.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dipper thought for sure his research had led him to one of the weakest and calmest demons but whatever the hell he had just invited had its cloud-like smoke clawing his clothes and filling the room at dangerous speeds. He didn’t want to test if he could breathe the stuff so he yanked his legs from their current position, the weight of them nearly tripping him several times.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t easy, but eventually, he made it to the door where he’d drawn plenty of sealing marks. “Whatever is doing this, speak now or deal with getting sent back to wherever you came from!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Silence. The fog made no sound and climbed higher, sitting at his hips, bringing with it an overwhelming smell of mold and stale water.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Alright, if that’s how it’s going to be then I’m leaving!” Dipper’s left hand covered his face and his right yanked the handle open to shove himself through. He kept his grip tight so that as soon as he was clear he could pull the door shut again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The nasty cloud smacked against the door but his sealing preparations keep it and its disgusting scent from bursting through.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That went horribly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Now there was a demon trapped in the old locker room that he would have to send back to wherever they came from and the memory of the smell had Dipper coughing. No one ever went back there anyway so it wasn’t like it was dangerous, but it had been one of the only things he could think of to help Stan so Dipper left the restricted area feeling pretty bummed out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Pines family wasn’t very big and they all knew that time would dwindle those numbers even more eventually. But Dipper didn’t want it to happen faster just because they didn’t take every precaution possible. Stan meant a lot to all of them and Ford was old too, it wasn’t fair to expect him to figure everything out on his own.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dipper kicked a crumpled up piece of paper that sat in the mostly empty hall. His summoning had at least been successful in proving that he could do it so he wasn’t totally empty-handed. Mabel had taught him to look at the positives and while he had the excitement of pulling it off running through him, he still couldn’t help but feel like he was still stuck under that fog.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ford told them about the visions nearly a month ago and even though Dipper started to look for an answer right away, he knew he was wasting time. Something —he didn’t know what and couldn’t explain it if he tried— told him that Bill was definitely still alive. Maybe he wasn’t living in Stan’s head and maybe he wasn’t an immediate threat, but he was still out there. He had never fully left and everyone else had to know that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lunch had a few minutes left and Dipper knew if he didn't show his face that Mabel would ask too many questions about what he had been doing. She used to love this stuff just as much as he did, but high school changed her. Mabel got friends, a social status, and a love for the theater program that would kick her out if she got in trouble with Dipper and they often got lumped together even if she hadn’t been anywhere near him when he did something to disrupt the peace.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It wasn’t like he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>trying</span>
  </em>
  <span> to be a problem child. The paranormal just oftentimes made him look bad. All he wanted to do was study it and interact with it a little. Sometimes that meant being chased through the park by an angry pack of pixies or accidentally making everyone’s lunch hour a Ghost Busters special. And some of those times he hadn’t even started it. Sometimes he had been trying to protect people from the weird crap that slipped through cracks in reality but were they ever thankful for it?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>No. Not one person ever thanked him for stopping the weird tree monster from using its roots to kidnap people and use them like nutrient-rich potting soil. Or the time some werewolf threatened to ruin their sophomore year prom because his girlfriend was going with some other guy and Dipper kept him at bay while everyone else got to dance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You look sad, why the frowny face?” Mabel spoke using a funny voice, reaching out to grab Dipper’s arm and tug him down onto the bench with her. “And lunch only has like two minutes left! Did someone mess with your locker again?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dipper wiped the dejected look from his face and shook his head. “Nah, I just read some news article about some weird stuff going on in England and I’m mad that I can’t travel like I want to yet. One day I’ll be able to run right to the action all around the world and I’ll film it to prove that I’m not crazy.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Mabel’s friends —the dorky theater kids that had no real room to talk about being weird— all gave Dipper funny looks, ones that said they didn’t believe him for a second. They had all dealt with the ghosts and yet they still wanted to think he was some whackjob.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The bell rang and the already noisy lunchroom erupted with the sound of students gathering their things and leaving for class. Mabel stayed seated and placed her hand on Dipper’s shoulder.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Dip-dop, you know I back your dreams one hundred percent! These guys haven’t seen nearly as much as us and don’t get how important paranormal research is.” She stood up, looking at her friends which had already made their way to the doors, waiting for her to join them. “Just… Please be careful. And don’t bring any more of that stuff to school, okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dipper looked down at his journal and knitted his brows together. “You know I carry this around everywhere,” he snorted. “I can’t just leave this where it might be stolen, it’s got some important stuff in it.” He got up too, waving his hand at her friends. “Go and join your friends, I’ll catch up with you after school.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course,” she sighed. “I’ll see you after school.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As the lunchroom emptied out, Dipper stayed behind and flipped through his journal. The summoning spell didn’t go as planned but that was alright. There were plenty of other spells he could figure out and there was a possibility that he could find some other supernatural creature that would know more about what had really happened to Bill and if he could be manifesting in Stan’s mind.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He kept at his reading through the rest of his classes, sometimes fitting new notes in the tiny spaces left next to other blurbs of text. Something would come along to help them. Bill wouldn’t be allowed to hurt Stan and Dipper would be able to learn exactly how to keep the demon away from his family and their reality for good.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>None of his teachers bothered with snapping him out of it anymore because once he started to mumble over his notes there was no real bringing him back. They took up all his focus and everyone had come to accept that over time. His parents hated it because his grades suffered for it, but it wasn’t like he needed school. All it did was teach him useless stuff anyway. The paranormal would be his life work and they certainly didn’t teach a class on that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That and ever since Ford had come back from sailing with Stan to retire, he started to do online lectures and Dipper listened to them all the time. Now those taught him something, useful stuff that he could get engrossed in and enjoy. And sometimes they were about science from their reality which he picked up on super easily making tests from school fly by with ease.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After school, when students were packed in the white-bricked hallways to gather around their red lockers, Dipper ducked and weaved his way through the crowds to get to his own. It had been spray-painted with an ugly, angry-looking ghost at the beginning of the year but because it was his last year and it happened every year, the staff waited until he moved to a new one to do anything about it. Meaning he got to look at it for the six months of high school he had left.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He had learned to ignore it and all the other dumb stuff other people did to him over the years. High school hadn’t been nearly as bad as junior high so he at least had that going for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just as Dipper reached into his locker to grab his keys and water bottle, a weird rumbling that could be heard first then felt second rolled through the hall, silencing everyone but rattling the lockers. It only lasted a few seconds and didn’t even feel strong enough for anyone to freak out or run out of the building. Most of the kids standing around just started to laugh it off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were in California, earthquakes weren’t uncommon and no one, not even the staff, had seemed all that worried about it. An announcement told everyone to hurry home, but that was the extent of the panic. If one could even call it that.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And yet, Dipper could feel the usual gut-churning fear and excitement of the paranormal. Something had decided to mess with the school —possibly the demon he had trapped in the locker room— and he would need to figure out what it was.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Looks like I’ll be doing an overnight study,” he mumbled to himself. There were plenty of places to hide, though, he wasn’t sure what he was going to use as an excuse to Mabel. Maybe just that he planned to study late? That wouldn’t explain why he didn’t come home, though.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sighed, running his hand through his curly locks. Sneaking out of the house after everyone went to bed would be his only option. Stopping by his room to grab some supplies first would be nice anyway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Dipper just hoped that this time it wouldn’t be such a thankless job. Especially since not many creatures had the ability to cause earthquakes like that. Whatever he was going to deal with that night had to be something troublesome.</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Unraveling</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Well hello there! Sorry it's been ages since I last wrote something ;w; As I'm sure you're all aware, 2020 was a horrible year. I got evicted, had surgery, and all sorts of other fabulously time-consuming and stressful things :)</p>
<p>ANYWAY, I finally got some motivation in me to write the second chapter of this ^-^ I'm really hoping that this year is a good creative year for me, so if you'd like to keep up-to-date with my creative adventures, I have a Tumblr and an Insta under the same username as this one &lt;3</p>
<p>Enjoy!~</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Right, that should do it,” Dipper mumbled to himself, standing up straight. Over the years of attending the school, Dipper had placed quite a few wards around it to keep things from getting in. Or out. It always had to be done in secret and while most of them were sturdy enough to keep most things from seeping out into the town, he wanted to make sure whatever he had summoned the day before would have no chance to slip through.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had just finished scratching a symbol into the old, thick paint on the doorframe of the main entrance, flipping his little, trusty pocket knife closed so that he could put it back in his pocket. Traveling light with only things that could fit into the pockets of his pants or jacket was ideal, if only because he had grown to distrust backpacks. If he absolutely had to have one, he made sure it was the type he could buckle over his chest and wouldn’t leave it anywhere until he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>sure</span>
  </em>
  <span> that he got everything he needed out of it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>His journal was the only thing he kept that was a bit difficult to carry and he didn’t mind it because it always helped him in a pinch. The thing had to weigh at least ten pounds, maybe a little more, thanks to all the pages stuffed into it for extra notes and the amount of ink on every page.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dipper tucked the large book under his arm and wiggled his way through the wedged open door, having learned how to open them and keep them open during other night time visits. The hallway the door led into had started to stink of the musty air as well and Dipper made sure to shut the door tightly behind him to keep it from spreading any further. Whatever it was, he’d have to make sure he got rid of it before the morning, when all the doors would be unlocked and let in unsuspecting students.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>While he walked through the hall, Dipper hummed a pop song to himself, tapping his chin and following the smell back to the old locker room where the smell had become unbearable. He had to lift his shirt over his nose, coughing a bit into it before pushing forward.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Whatever you are, I’m coming in! We’re either going to talk or I’m going to send you right back to whatever dimension or hell you came from!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Silence, yet again. The fog had only filled the room up to his waist and was thick enough that as soon as he stepped inside he could no longer see his toes. Great. More shoes likely ruined due to paranormal gunk. Dipper wanted to sigh but refrained to keep his poor mouth from tasting the putrid smell.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He stepped forward, his legs struggling to move forward. While the fog didn’t seem solid anywhere else, it certainly was around his legs. Almost like whatever caused it wanted to keep him still.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Wait… Are </span>
  <em>
    <span>you</span>
  </em>
  <span> the thing I summoned? Smoke, really? I can’t talk to- Hey!” The fog forces Dipper’s legs forward, shoving him toward the locker. Just before he slammed into it he shoved his arm out to take the brunt of it. “Relax! I’m just trying to- Oh, c’mon!” Once more he was dragged, that time right against one of the benches. Where his shin slammed into the metal with a bruising ping that rang out through the room, the sound muffled a little from the fog.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Stop! I can- I can make some sort of deal with you? You guys like deals, don’t-” The fog suddenly cleared from around his legs, the small circle it created rising around him. “I-is that a yes? I know how to defend myself but I’m trying to play nice to get information so don’t think I can’t hurt you! You might be smoke but everything has a weakness!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The quiet room somehow got even quieter, not even his breathing making much noise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What… Offer?” It was the faintest whisper but Dipper could still hear it enough to get what it said.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What can I offer? Well, I can offer… What do you want? I’m a knowledgeable human with plenty of cool stuff I’ve collected over the years and some information of my own. I’m sure if you told me what you want, I can make it happen. No hurting anyone, though. I’m not about that sort of thing.” Dipper clutched his journal closer, hoping that the thing would just ask him some questions about this realm or something simple.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fog shuddered, rattling the locker doors lightly. “Hungry,” it rasped. “Need… Seven…”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dipper tapped his index finger on the cover of his book. “Seven what? I can get you seven of something. Just… Not people. Or animals, either.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>Seven!</span>
  </em>
  <span>”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Alright, alright! Seven, seven....” Dipper flips open his book, turning page after page to see what could be the “seven” the demon is referring to. What could a single number even mean? Surely the thing wasn’t going to explain, so what was he to do?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Give me some information first. You know, to make sure I’m not just handing something over. I’ll ask one simple question, then once I know I’m going to get my information, I’ll hand it over.” That would buy time. Maybe, Dipper wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he was sweating and eyeing his way out just in case things went south.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A low hum filled the room, the locker doors rattling again. “Fine.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>If the room didn’t smell so musty, Dipper would have sighed in relief. “Do you know how to make sure a demon is dead?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Can’t… Can only trap. Trap us.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dipper shivered. The sound of its faint voice crept through the room, Dipper’s skin prickling as though each word were a little creature skittering up his clothes with claws, making their way into his ears. Bad news delivered by bad breath.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Only trapped. Fuck.” He ran a hand through his hair and leaned back on his heels before starting to pace the room. “Okay, fine, he was only trapped. That means we can trap him again.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Seven!” the voice bellowed, shaking the walls.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Right, the “seven” thing. Dipper blinked at the fog, tapping his foot. “Alright, I’m going to be honest, I have no idea what ‘seven’ means, dude. I would really like to get it for you, but I don’t know what it-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fog suddenly crashed into him, a flurry of humid air roughing up his clothes and hair. Dipper held his journal tightly against his chest with his eyes squeezed shut, waiting for it to either speak or hurt him. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the bad smell or if the thing had been trying to suffocate him, but Dipper started to gasp for air and his body reflexively swatted at the cloud around him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had known the way to the door just a moment ago, but the mass of fog got him all turned around. Just when he thought he would have to blindly flail his arms around for a handle, the creature moved away just as quickly as it had come. It circled him again, still as if it hadn’t even moved.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“More… Question.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Whatever the hell “seven” had been, the thing got it. Dipper didn’t feel any different, maybe a little light-headed, but nothing looked as though it were missing or hurt. “Uh, okay, well, how about… Do you know of Bill Cipher?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“No.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A blunt and sure answer. It didn’t know who Bill was, but that didn’t mean it didn’t know how to stop him. “If a demon were trapped and managed to get out, can it move freely or does it get sent somewhere else?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Different realm. Away from trap to heal.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dipper flipped his journal open, flipping through the pages to find any blank spot that would fit this new information. “And how long does it take to heal?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Time is fake.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Right,” Dipper deadpans. “Guess that would be hard to determine in a different realm anyway. Once they’re healed, can they come back to the place they had been trapped in?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Anywhere we want.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The more answers he got the more unsettled Dipper got. It sounded like Bill had come back and was trying to get revenge on them already. “What’s the easiest way to trap a demon?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like you have here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Like I have…?” Dipper looked at the ground then to the door, biting his lip. Symbols. Right. They were going to trap Bill in one before Ford and Stan argued. Could he use that symbol to get Bill trapped again? For good? It would be difficult, seeing as they had been out of touch with some of the people on the zodiac for a while. Like Robbie. Last Dipper heard he went to and failed art school </span>
  <em>
    <span>twice</span>
  </em>
  <span> then went pretty quiet. Most of the others probably moved out of Gravity Falls.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dipper groaned, rubbing his eyes. “When they get trapped, the amount of time locked up will depend on how strong the trap itself is, right?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Time is-”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Fake, right, nevermind.” Having all of this jotted down in his journal would make for good reading material later. “Is there any way to detect if a demon is nearby?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The fog let out a sound that was </span>
  <em>
    <span>almost</span>
  </em>
  <span> a laugh. It had the same jarring rasps of air but sounded like it was inhaling rather than exhaling to make the noise.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Not for you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Rolling his eyes, Dipper put the back of his pen into his mouth to chew. Not for him was an unfortunate answer, but not one that led to a dead-end. “Is there someone or something here that can help me do that? Like, another human, or an object that could do it for me?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>A loud sound cut their talk short, a sound that made all the color leave Dipper’s face. The bell. Had he been up that late? Were there already students coming into the building, opening all the doors willy-nilly? He looked down at the fog, his worst fear coming to light as it turned pitch black then started to disappear as if it were leaving the room.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Someone must’ve broken one of the seals. The locker room seals had probably started to weaken as well, seeing as they were drawn on parts of the building that were falling apart.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“W-wait! You didn’t finish answering my questions! I will catch you, you know!” Dipper sighed, gagging and sputtering when the thick smell assaulted his nostrils again. At least all the other demons he had dealt with didn’t smell so bad.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He charged out after it, his pen in his mouth and his journal open to the pages that held the summoning circle he used to bring the demon there in the first place. Thanks to his experience with Bill, Dipper knew that the same symbol to bring the demon had to be the one that could also trap it. If he could just get to his locker and grab out a marker, he could draw one somewhere else and lead it right into it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The first step out of the locker room told him that he wasn’t going to get through this ordeal with no witnesses. All of the fog had turned a deep black and it, for some reason, was clinging to the ceiling and raining down its horrid smell over the students. Every one of them looked up and after seeing the mass, they looked to where it had come from.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Which, of course, led their eyes right to Dipper.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ugh, what the hell did you do this time, freak?” another student groaned from somewhere in the crowd.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just uh, just get to your classes!” Dipper had no idea what the demon fog could be up to or where it was going, but he definitely couldn’t just stand around and find out. He had made a lot of safety precautions for this sort of event, however, he wasn’t sure if all of them would hold up while there were so many students coming in and moving things around. The night had flown by so fast, if he had been more careful and watched the clock he could’ve had the demon banished already.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dipper ran through the hall while avoiding the names and sounds of annoyance or fear from his classmates, following the fog to the thickest part of it. It looked like it was headed to the main doors, the biggest exit. Thankfully, Dipper had closed that one off the tightest with the best symbols he could find.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Unfortunately,</span>
  </em>
  <span> that meant that it had to find another way out. The highschool had multiple floors, countless windows, and more vents than Dipper could ever reach. He was going to have to work fast and do his best to ignore the insults coming his way every time he rushed by someone who noticed that there was yet another supernatural thing happening at their school.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That time he would fix it without anything bad happening to anyone else. Aside from their poor noses, anyway. The entire school stank of wet gym socks and he hoped that once it was all said and done they wouldn’t be too upset about something as simple as that. Whatever complaints they had would have to wait because the fog was heading to the back of the school where a lot of students gathered to hang out before school.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>There was no telling what sort of things the demon had planned for them and Dipper was going to do his best to protect them, even if they were ungrateful jerks.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Dipper is in for it now! Everyone knows he's messed up and he's not even fully sure if he can fix it owo</p>
<p>Comments and kudos are very much appreciated! I always love to know that there are still people out there reading Billdip because I can't seem to leave this ship hell ;w;</p>
<p>Hope you're all doing well and that your 2021 will be a good one! &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Mysterious</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Heyo, been a while ;w;</p>
<p>If you ever want to see chapters early/support my writing, I have some links on Tumblr to do so 👀</p>
<p>
  <a href="roboticspacecase.tumblr.com">My Tumblr is here uwu</a>
</p>
<p>Enjoy!~</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“Pen, pen, pen, gah! I know I have one!” Dipper furiously patted himself down, knowing that he had to have one of his many pens stuffed somewhere in one of his pockets. No such luck came from them, however, so he was forced to come to a screeching halt and turn on his heels to book it to his locker. He thought about drawing the summoning circle on his journal and using that to trap the demon, but the pages were so full it would be no use.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Instead, Dipper stuffed his journal into the locker, grabbing out a marker and one of his notebooks. There was no telling which subject the notebook he grabbed had been for, but it didn’t really matter in the end. Surely it had a blank page he could draw on and send the demon back to where it came from.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>With the book and marker in hand, Dipper bolted away from his locker and followed the worst of the stench to the back entrance of the school. The demon had just broken open the door and students outside were put into a panic, one Dipper ran right into. The smoke rose slowly into the sky, forming a cloud over what was left of the group of students. Dipper had to act fast before it did something to hurt them.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He flipped open the notebook to a random page in the back, the sound of his breathing and heartbeat muffling every other noise around him as he drew the symbol as large as he could over two pages. Once it was done, he tossed the marker away and fumbled with the twisted metal spine of the notebook until the tip of it was poking out. Thankfully, it was just sharp enough to puncture his thumb.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Unfortunately,</span>
  </em>
  <span> the sharpness of it was enough to stab into another part of his hand when someone rushing away from the cloud bumped into him. Dipper swore loudly but didn’t let it stop him from rushing right underneath the demon. The smell curdled what was once fresh air, forcing a cough from Dipper as he smashed his bloody hand over the symbol.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re going back now, so I hope you had your fun!” he shouted, holding the notebook up towards the sky.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>But, rather than suck the demon into it, the pages started to flip wildly and glow. It ripped itself from Dipper’s hands and it was then that he saw what had been scribbled on the other pages. Other symbols. Not all demon-summoning ones, but enough to make his mind whirl with what it could mean. He had just tried to banish a demon and summon who knew how many more at the same time.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dipper looked up at the cloud with wide eyes, staring at it blankly until he heard his name being called. He turned his head and saw Mabel in the crowd, her face twisted in anger.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I told you not to do this sort of thing!” Her voice got cut off by a sudden gust of wind that nearly took Dipper off of his feet.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Finding his footing against it took more brainpower than he would’ve liked because every second not thinking of what to do was a second more things could go wrong. What symbols did he put into that book? Was Bill’s one of them? He knew he had drawn it a dozen times, that zodiac that could somehow work against the demon. But did he do it in that notebook? How many times had he drawn it in there? If there were more than one, would it make the summon stronger?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No answers came his way and the cloud of light, wind, and demon were all violently swirling above him. That time, the gust of wind did knock him off his feet and sent the other people around watching the spectacle away. There had to be a way to stop this. Did he know any symbols that could close this? That could at least contain it until he figured something out?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dipper gripped the grass under him, holding onto it so that he didn’t get sucked into the putrid fog above him. If he had just thought a little more, if he had just taken things slowly like his family told him to, maybe at least consulted with Ford first, none of this would be happening. What did he really think he was going to do? Solve everything in one night?</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>No. Mabel had been right, and wherever the wind had blown her, she was probably there fuming at him. And she had every right to. The cloud above him could turn into some mega demon and kill countless people, it could make them sick with some incurable disease, or it could bring on some nightmare realm as Bill had done before.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He had to fix it. No matter what, he had to solve this problem.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Taking in a deep breath —then immediately regretting it— Dipper raised his right arm and took his keys from his pocket. One of them, his house key, had a fairly sharp edge and it. His forearm wasn’t the most ideal canvas, but it was all he had to work with. Once, after the whole thing with Bill happened, Ford had mentioned briefly what sort of equation was used to keep Bill in Gravity Falls. He didn’t tell Dipper the exact equation because that information would put him in danger, but it was enough for him to piece something together.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At least, he hoped it was.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dipper grit his teeth as he worked the key over his skin, the droplets of blood flowing up to the cloud rather than down his arm. It was starting to pull things in, and if he did things right, his own body could be used as the seal. There was no telling what it would do to him, how it might actually turn out. But with his sister and the other students around in danger, he had to do </span>
  <em>
    <span>something.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He didn’t even think about if he would </span>
  <em>
    <span>live</span>
  </em>
  <span> through the ordeal. And the thought didn’t cross his mind until he was already off the ground, weightless and looking over to where he had last seen Mabel. She had her hands waving and it looked like she might be on the phone. Dipper shouted the word, “journal” to her, because if he did somehow survive, if the portal didn’t just rip him to shreds or kill him, then it would surely take him through it to where the demons were and there was enough information in his journal to pull him out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Hopefully, anyway.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bracing for the light of the portal, Dipper shut his eyes and tensed up. The wind whirling around him and the hum of the portal were so noisy the closer he got. They rang in his ears louder and louder until he had to cover his ears to shut it out. But then, as if it had been snapped away, it all just vanished.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Maybe he had died, or maybe he had been taken somewhere new. The first one didn’t feel right. Dipper could still feel his hands pressed against his ears, his heavy breathing, and the pain of the mark on his arm. Surely death would have taken those things from him. Not like he knew for sure, but if he had to guess, he would say that he was still among the living.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span>Where</span>
  </em>
  <span> he was, though, that was hard to say. His eyes were still screwed shut and fear kept him from opening them just yet. What if the portal had taken him to where the other demons were? Could he survive such a strange place? Doubtful. He didn’t have a single thing on him other than his simple clothes. No weapons, pages full of how to survive a demon. Memories could only take him so far under pressure.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The only way to start really assessing the problem was to open his eyes and see where he ended up. Dipper Pines was no coward and no matter what he was going to figure something out. For his family’s sake, he would find a way to survive until they could rescue him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Slowly, Dipper opened his eyes. Before they could open all the way, he had to quickly shut them again thanks to the blinding, neon lights surrounding him. He tried again, going even slower that time. When they were eventually open, he stared out in front of him at the vast, seemingly endless, psychedelic ocean of colors. They had no order to them, no discernible pattern or direction but they moved with purpose. What that purpose could be was a mystery to Dipper and he tried not to think too hard about it as he looked down at himself.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Everything had stayed intact and the only injury he could see was the symbol on his arm, still oozing blood. Not badly enough to worry, thankfully.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He took in a deep breath, glad that he could do at least that. It didn’t make much sense that he could do that, but it was a good thing nonetheless. There didn’t seem to be any kind of gravity, though. Not that he could feel if he were moving or not, but he was pretty sure the lights were moving around him. He just stayed in one spot, floating and confused with no way of figuring out where he ended up or how to get out of there.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>At least he was still alive.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The relief of that only lasted so long, however, because as time passed he started to really worry about surviving things like starvation and dehydration. Did time pass normally there for him? Surely if his blood still pumped then his body was still using up energy, which meant cells were dying. His time there had to be limited.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Looking around, Dipper could only see weird lights, long beams of color that don’t look as if they really go anywhere. They just fade off in the distance, swallowed by the white and black emptiness between them. Some pop into existence and whiz by like a shooting star, only to taper off like the others. Perhaps he </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> died and whatever he was experiencing happened to be some sort of limbo.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>That didn’t feel right, but he had no other answers. And the longer he waited there, the more he was </span>
  <em>
    <span>sure</span>
  </em>
  <span> that he wasn’t dead. He didn’t get an answer, but instead one of the beams of light struck him right through the head. It didn’t hurt at all, however, it made him jolt downward as if gravity spontaneously grabbed him.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Everything went black and he lost all the air in his lungs for a moment before it was sucked back in suddenly. His lungs sputtered to work again, slowly working in the heavy air. The smell of… Cigars? Something rich and heady, anyway, filled his nose and Dipper opened his eyes to see that he had, somehow, been dropped into an office. At least, it looked like an office. A very noir-esque one with a typewriter and papers stacked on the desk, the blinds dusty and gray.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>He tried to get up and explore, only to find that his arms and legs were bound to the chair he had appeared in.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“How the-?” Dipper looked down at himself and aside from the ropes, he realized that he had been put into a suit. A really fancy one, too. “What the fuck is going on here.” His voice was deeper and despite being tied up, he could tell that his body was </span>
  <em>
    <span>older.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Rather than a young adult, barely about to be eighteen, Dipper had the broad shoulders and long legs of someone closer to thirty.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The air around him smelled of paper and cigars, making him wonder if he had somehow taken the portal to some old-timey crime movie. He </span>
  <em>
    <span>had</span>
  </em>
  <span> accidentally opened up an interdimensional portal, it was possible that didn’t take him to the nightmare realm but instead some other universe or reality. Finding out would have to wait until he could get the hell out of the ropes.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>While struggling, Dipper made the chair wobble left and right, so much so that it got loud enough to catch someone’s attention from outside of the room. He hadn’t exactly thought about how there would be other people there, or how he would go about dealing with them. Being tied up meant that they didn’t like him much, so he was going to have to talk his way out of whatever mess this version of himself got into. Not having a single clue as to what he did would make it that much harder, but Dipper had confidence in himself to figure it out.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Footsteps and loud voices got closer and closer to the door. Dipper took in a deep breath, readying a small speech to try and keep whoever it could be calm. From the look of the place, he wouldn’t be shocked to have some sort of gun pulled on him. As terrifying as it would be, he could talk his way out of it. Maybe.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The door opened slowly at first as the voices hushed, then it swung open fully. First, a large man with a suit and no tie. He could be described as average at best, nothing about him other than his height sticking out to Dipper. The second man to walk in, however, was one that would stand out in any crowd.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Perfectly groomed blond hair sat under a black hat, one that titled to the right just enough to cover most of the man’s eye. His suit had been tailored perfectly to his body, black fabric with golden pinstripes sewn in with thread that shone in the dim light. If Dipper hadn’t been so freaked out by what they were about to say or do, he would’ve looked down to see what sort of shoes the man was wearing. Probably something expensive.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, this is a treat,” the man said in a low voice. “Leave us for a moment, I need to talk to him alone.” The other man hesitated for a moment then left, leaving Dipper and this fancy man to stare at each other in silence. “This is quite the pickle you’ve put us in.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Uh, I’m going to be super honest with you, I think I must’ve hit my head real hard or something because I have no idea what’s going on.” Dipper licked his lips, wondering if the guy would buy his excuse or not. He doubted it, but it was all he could think of on the fly.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>The man laughed, tilting his head up to show his face. Angular, handsome, jaw and cheekbones stared down at Dipper with an anger he could only gawk at. “Don’t fucking give me that, Pinetree. You fucked up those portals and yourself, now we’re here and those assholes are talking to me as if I have any clue what the hell is going on here.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Dipper blinked slowly. “...Bill?” How? Why? There were so many questions flying through Dipper’s mind, he didn’t even know where to start. Maybe the demon would understand more of what happened and how they could fix things, but that would require talking to him and trying to work together. Which, of course, Dipper wanted to avoid at all costs.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Yeah, it’s me, dumbass.” Bill grabbed the back of the chair, leaning in so close that their noses nearly pressed into each other and his hot breath ghosted over Dipper’s cheeks. “And if you want to survive this situation you’re going to sit there and listen to me very closely.”</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Things be wildin' and poor Dipper is confused lol</p>
<p>Comments and kudos are always super appreciated! &lt;3</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Comments and kudos are always much appreciated! ^-^ &lt;3</p></blockquote></div></div>
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